William Leece looks at the secrets uncovered in a new history of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

THE news might not go down too well along the M62, but Manchester’s beloved Halle Orchestra might be about to lose its title of Britain’s oldest.

In the long-running and (for the most part) friendly rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester, the match between the Liverpool Phil and the Halle is seen as a score-draw.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society is by far the senior body, it is agreed, but the Halle has been in business as a professional orchestra since well before the Philharmonic Society’s. Honours even, or so it seems.

But, in the wake of Capital of Culture year, and with the Liverpool orchestra on a roll with its young Russian principal conductor Vasily Petrenko, a new history of the Philharmonic suggests that the orchestra, rather than the society that runs it, may go back longer than had been believed.

Authors Darren Henley and Vincent McKernan spent two years researching and writing what is, in fact, the first substantial account of the Philharmonic in its 169-year history.

Backed by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, they were able to catalogue the Philharmonic’s archives to an international standard – with some remarkable findings emerging.

In particular, it has emerged that the Philharmonic actually had a formally-contracted group of regular players as long ago as 1851. And if that qualifies as an orchestra – and it’s difficult to see it as anything else – then the Halle is going to have to yield second place.

The first Liverpool concert from a fully-professional orchestra has now been dated to February 22, 1853, under the baton of the Phil’s first permanent conductor, Zeugheer Herrmann.

By contrast, the Halle Orchestra had to wait until January, 1858, for its first performance. Honours to Liverpool, it seems – though so far the response from the Bridgwater Hall has been one of complete silence.

Whether the new research will find its way into the learned pages of volumes like the Oxford Dictionary of Music or even Grove’s Dictionary of Music remains to be see. But the new book from Liverpool has set a standard and deserves to be a musical best-seller over the years.